Elvis Sings Guitar Man

[Jungleroom76]

ELVIS SINGS "GUITAR MAN" - Highlights from the 2-CD "Elvis Sings 'Guitar Man'" FTD Release

Tracklisting:

DISC ONE - SIDE ONE

1. Guitar Man – takes 11 & 12 (unedited undubbed master)
2. Big Boss Man – takes 7 & 9
3. Love Letters – take 8
4. Just Call Me Lonesome – takes 5 & 6
5. Come What May – take 6
6. Mine (original master)
7. Fools Fall In Love (original master)

DISC ONE - SIDE TWO

1. I'll Remember You (vocal overdub, unedited master)
2. High Heel Sneakers – take 7 (unedited master)
3. Down In The Alley – take 6
4. Indescribably Blue (vocal overdub) - take 1
5. Tomorrow Is A Long Time - takes 1 & 2

DISC TWO - SIDE ONE

1. Big Boss Man – take 2
2. Just Call Me Lonesome – takes 3 & 4
3. Down In The Alley – takes 2, 3 & 4
4. Come What May – takes 3 & 4
5. We Call On Him - take 8
6. Singing Tree – (remake) takes 1, 2 & 3
7. Guitar Man – take 10

DISC TWO - SIDE TWO

1. Love Letters – take 2
2. Fools Fall In Love – takes 1 & 4
3. Singing Tree – takes 10 & 13
4. You Don't Know Me – take 2
5. Come What May – take 7
6. High Heel Sneakers – take 5

[my boy]

PUT ON YOUR HI-HEEL SNEAKERS

“Elvis Sings Guitar Man” FTD 2-LP is a great addition to the FTD vinyl canon – it comes on thick 180gm wax, it’s cool stuff! It’s a gatefold which is always value for money with great pics of Elvis from the late 1960s. His excellent Nashville cuts were never on a proper album of sorts but appeared on soundtrack albums such as SPINOUT to pad out the content but it has to be said, they were the best songs on the albums – “Guitar Man”, R&B stomper “Down In The Alley,” and the blues soaked “Big Boss Man” are cases in point.

The sequencing is a masterstroke – opening on side one with Elvis studio chatter and Elvis singing: “Do not forsake me oh my darling” (Tex Ritter,HIGH NOON), before launching headlong into the unedited undubbed master of “Guitar Man” complete with the Ray Charles classic, “What’d I’d Say” ad libs.

Additionally, Jerry Reed, known as the “guitar man” of Nashville can be heard before Elvis tackles –– Big Boss Man – and it’s a real fly on the wall moment with Jerry playing loose to catch the groove.

This vinyl edition has a fantastic cover; an interesting essay about the recording of the tracks when you open up the gatefold; and great pics of EP on the inner sleeves which have returned to the thicker cardboard types. More standouts: “Love Letters” gentle drum brush work (more prominent on the vinyl release) – the R&B tour-de-force –– “Hi-Heel Sneakers,” and the tale of a fool in love, “Fools Fall In Love” (written by songwriting legends Leiber & Stoller) –– this is a great fun number.

Furthermore, Elvis's take on Bob Dylan's - "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" adds gravitas to a rich assortment of tracks. There’s also snatches of ‘Danny Boy’ and Bobby Gentry’s ‘Ode To Billy Joe’ along the way, with captivating studio chatter throughout. Oh, and not forgetting the handclaps and “great sax on, “Come What May”

To sum up – this is vinyl heaven and essential if you love wax...